With the world's billionaire population hitting an all-time high this year, global billionaire wealth now stands at a whopping $7.3 trillion.

Women control almost 13 percent of this wealth and account for 12.3 percent of the world's total billionaire population, according to the recently published report by ultra-high net worth data firm Wealth-X and Swiss bank UBS.

Of the world's 286 female billionaires, the average age is 61. Here, using data from Wealth-X and the UBS Billionaire Census 2014, we show you who the wealthiest women by region are and how they made their fortunes.

The richest women in the world by region make up an interesting list of billionaires of the extreme wealthy and successful in seven different countries.

The region includes North America, Europe, Pacific, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

At the top of the list is Europe’s Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, 65, a French heiress of L’Oreal who lays claim to $47.8 billion and the title of Richest Woman in the World. 2nd place goes to the United States Christy Walton of Walmart, with an estimated net worth of $37.9 billion.

Next on the richest women by region list is mining heiress Gina Reinhart of Australia took the title of most affluent woman in the Pacific, with an estimated net worth of $14.8 billion. For Latin America, it was a three-way tie between Mexican sisters Vanessa Paola Slim Hajj, Maria Soumaya Slim de Romero, and Johanna Slim Ayub, who are thought to possess a net worth of $6.3 billion individually, the website found. They are the children of billionaire Carlos Slim, who also has three sons.

4. Vanessa Paola Slim Hajj, Maria Soumaya Slim de Romero, Johanna Monique Slim Ayub- The three daughters of Carlos Slim, a well known business tycoon, investor, and philanthropist in Mexico. He is also known as the "Warren Buffet of Mexico". In 2010, América Móvil estimated Slim's net worth at $49 billion. Slim has six children: Carlos, Marco Antonio, Patrick, Soumaya, Vanessa, and Johanna. Each of them get their own share of their father's riches. All the three daughters Vanessa Paola Slim Hajj, Maria Soumaya Slim de Romero and Johanna Monique Slim inherit a net worth of $6.3 billion each. This makes them the fourth richest women in the world.

1. Christy Ruth Walton - She is the wife of the late John T. Walton, one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. After John's death in June 2005, she inherited his fortune(a portion of the Walmart empire) of $18.2 billion. Today, after nine years, the estimated net worth of empire stands at $41 billion. Forbes reported that till March 2014, she was the richest woman in the world for seven years running, and she continues to rule even now.

2. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers - Francoise Betterncourt Meyers is the heiress of the French cosmetic giant L'Oreal. She tops Christy Walton with her empire's net worth being estimated at $47.8 billion. She is a well known personality in the French elite circles. Known to be a socialite, businesswoman and philanthropist apart from being the heiress of one of the biggest cosmetic brands of the world, Bettencourt is the richest lady in the world, ever since her mother, Liliane Bettencourt's death in 2017.

5. Yang Huiyan- Yang Huiyan holds the majority shares of Country Garden Holdings, one of the biggest companies in China. Her father Yang Guoqiang, transferred 70% of Country Garden's shares to her before its IPO in 2007, who started his company Biguiyuan in 1997. At 33, she is the youngest woman on the list, Huiyan's wealth has a net worth of $5.2 billion.

3. Gina Reinhart- Rinehart was born to Hope Margaret Nicholas and Lang Hancock in Perth, Western Australia. Today she is the Chairman of Hancock Prospecting group, Australia. The estimated worth of her entire wealth is $14.8 billion. She took over the company, which is privately listed after her father's death in March 1992. She dropped out of University of Sydney where she studied econmics for a brief time, before working for her father, gaining extensive knowledge of the Pilbara iron-ore industry. In 2010, she became the largest shareholder in Fairfax Media.

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers

Christy Ruth Walton

Gina Reinhart

Maria Soumaya Slim de Romero

Vanessa Paola Slim Hajj

Johanna Monique Slim Ayub

Yang Huiyan

6. Shari Arison- Arison was born in New York to businessman Ted Arison and Mina Arison Sapir. After her father's death in 1999, she inherited 35 percent of his empire. She initially went back to Israel to join the Israel Defence Forces. Today she is the owner of Arison Investments that comprises several business companies, the largest among them Bank Hapoalim, and of several philanthropic organizations that are subsidiaries of The Ted Arison Family Foundation. In total her wealth's net worth is $4.2 billion.

Shari Arison

7. Folorunsho Alakija - Alakija is a business tycoon from Africa involved in fashion, oil and printing industries. Of her many posts, she is the group managing director of The Rose of Sharon Group and the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited. The net value of her empire is $1.2 billion. She was born in 1951 to the family of Chief L. A. Ogbara in Ikorodu, Lagos State. In November 1976, she married a lawyer, Modupe Alakija. They reside in Lagos, Nigeria with their four sons.

Folorunsho Alakija

Richest Woman In The World

Richest Woman In North America

Richest Woman In Australia

Richest Women In Latin America

Richest Woman In Asia

Richest Woman in Western Asia (Middle East)

Richest Woman In Africa

Only one of the richest on the list is self-made. And the richest women are under-represented elsewhere when it comes to wealth and power, as well. Just over 5% of CEO positions in Fortune 1,000 companies are held by women, according to Market Watch.

Women currently hold 99 of the 535 seats in Congress: 20 of the 100 seats in the Senate, and 79 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. And 60 of the 172 active judges currently sitting on the 13 U.S. federal courts of appeal are women, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

The data comes from Wealth-X, the world’s leading ultra high net worth (UHNW) intelligence and prospecting firm with the largest collection of curated research on UHNW individuals, defined as those with net assets of US$30 million and above. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 13 offices on five continents.

All together on the richest women in the world by region, the top 8 are worth $115.6 billion collectively. In total, there are only 286 female billionaires globally, compared to 2,039 men. A recent Billionaire Census report found that more than 65% of women billionaires inherited their wealth.